THE HAGUE: Ukraine’s energy giant Naftogaz said on Thursday that a Hague-based tribunal had ordered Russia to pay the firm $5 billion for the illegal seizure of its assets in Crimea.
Naftogaz chief executive Oleksiy Chernyshov said the firm had “won a key victory on the energy front” over losses he said were caused by Russia’s 2014 annexation of the peninsula.
“Despite Russia’s attempts to obstruct justice, the arbitration tribunal ordered Russia to compensate Naftogaz for losses of $5 billion,” Chernyshov said.
“This relates to the seizure of our assets in Crimea by Russia in 2014. Russia must now comply with this decision in accordance with its obligations under international law.”
The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration, which administers the tribunal, told AFP it “has been provided no information for public dissemination beyond that made available” on its website.
The site provides a history of the case but no record of a judgment.
Naftogaz said it filed the case in 2016 and the tribunal delivered the verdict on Wednesday.
The award was made after hearings to determine the amount of compensation, which ended in March 2022 after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it said.
“The court rejected Russian claims that Naftogaz is not entitled to any compensation for the expropriation of its assets,” the energy firm added.
Kyiv and Ukrainian companies have increasingly turned to international courts to bring cases against Russia.
The International Criminal Court, also based in The Hague, issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes in March.
Ukraine’s Naftogaz says wins $5 bn lawsuit against Russia
https://arab.news/94jhr
Ukraine’s Naftogaz says wins $5 bn lawsuit against Russia
- "Despite Russia's attempts to obstruct justice, the arbitration tribunal ordered Russia to compensate Naftogaz for losses of $5 billion," Chernyshov said
- Naftogaz said it filed the case in 2016 and the tribunal delivered the verdict on Wednesday
Trump warns against infiltration by a ‘bad Santa,’ defends coal in jovial Christmas calls with kids
- Take potshots at his critics, "including the Radical Left Scum that is doing everything possible to destroy our Country, but are failing badly”
WEST PALM BEACH, Florida: President Donald Trump marked Christmas Eve by quizzing children calling in about what presents they were excited about receiving, while promising to not let a “bad Santa” infiltrate the country and even suggesting that a stocking full of coal may not be so bad.
Vacationing at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, the president and first lady Melania Trump participated in the tradition of talking to youngsters dialing into the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which playfully tracks Santa’s progress around the globe.
“We want to make sure that Santa is being good. Santa’s a very good person,” Trump said while speaking to kids ages 4 and 10 in Oklahoma. “We want to make sure that he’s not infiltrated, that we’re not infiltrating into our country a bad Santa.”
He didn’t elaborate.
Trump has often marked Christmases past with criticisms of his political enemies, including in 2024, when he posted, “Merry Christmas to the Radical Left Lunatics.” During his first term, Trump wrote online early on Dec. 24, 2017, targeting a top FBI official he believed was biased against him, as well as the news media.
Shortly after wrapping up Wednesday’s Christmas Eve calls, in fact, he returned to that theme, posting: “Merry Christmas to all, including the Radical Left Scum that is doing everything possible to destroy our Country, but are failing badly.”
But Trump was in a jovial mood while talking with the kids. He even said at one point that he “could do this all day long” but likely would have to get back to more pressing matters like efforts to quell the fighting in Russia’s war with Ukraine.
When an 8-year-old from North Carolina, asked if Santa would be mad if no one leaves cookies out for him, Trump said he didn’t think so, “But I think he’ll be very disappointed.”
“You know, Santa’s — he tends to be a little bit on the cherubic side. You know what cherubic means? A little on the heavy side,” Trump joked. “I think Santa would like some cookies.”
The president and first lady Melania Trump sat side-by-side and took about a dozen calls between them. At one point, while his wife was on the phone and Trump was waiting to be connected to another call, he noted how little attention she was paying to him: “She’s able to focus totally, without listening.”
Asked by an 8-year-old girl in Kansas what she’d like Santa to bring, the answer came back, “Uh, not coal.”
“You mean clean, beautiful coal?” Trump replied, evoking a favored campaign slogan he’s long used when promising to revive domestic coal production.
“I had to do that, I’m sorry,” the president added, laughing and even causing the first lady, who was on a separate call, to turn toward him and grin.
“Coal is clean and beautiful. Please remember that, at all costs,” Trump said. “But you don’t want clean, beautiful coal, right?”
“No,” the caller responded, saying she’d prefer a Barbie doll, clothes and candy.
